Category Archives: US News

Zelenskiy vows to investigate and prosecute all Russian ‘crimes’ in Ukraine – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. Read the latest live developments in the Russia-Ukraine war here.

Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has said Russia’s position on Crimea and Donbas remains unchanged and that peace talks had not progressed enough for a leaders’ meeting.

Medinsky’s comments appear to be a rebuttal of earlier reports suggesting Moscow had “verbally” agreed to key Ukrainian proposals.

A Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia told media on Saturday that Russia had “given an official answer to all positions, which is that they accept the (Ukrainian) position, except for the issue of Crimea (which was annexed by Russia in 2014).”

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Biden rebuffed as US relations with Saudi Arabia and UAE hit new low

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Analysis: As oil prices – and diplomatic tensions – rise, two of the biggest US allies are questioning the basis of their relationship

As Joe Biden moved to open US strategic oil reserves, his two biggest oil-producing allies have kept their tanks firmly shut. The UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to rebuff the US president as he attempts to counter soaring oil prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And both countries have been unusually frank about their refusal to step in.

The five-week-old war is bringing tensions to a head in several parts of the world, but perhaps nowhere is a regional order more under strain than the Middle East, where two of America’s biggest allies are now seriously questioning the foundations of their relationship.

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Republican Senate hopeful overstated academic achievements for years

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Herschel Walker, frontrunner for party nomination in Georgia, claimed to have graduated in top 1% – but never actually graduated

A Republican Senate candidate in Georgia said for years that he graduated in the top 1% of his university’s class – but actually never graduated college at all.

Herschel Walker, a former pro football player who is running as a Republican in Georgia’s US Senateprimary, has publicly stated multiple times that he graduated in the top 1% of his class at University of Georgia despite never completing his degree.

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Georgia senate passes bill limiting discussion of race in schools

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‘We must teach that America is good’ says top Republican of bill banning teaching that US is ‘fundamentally racist’

The Georgia senate passed a bill on Friday that would limit discussions of race in kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms.

House Bill 1084, the “Protect Students First Act”, was approved by the Georgia senate. The measure requires local school boards and administrators to ban discrimination on the “basis of race” by limiting how race can be discussed in classrooms.

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Ukraine claims Russia has ‘verbally’ accepted peace proposals, except on Crimea – as it happened

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Deputy defence minister says territory is ‘liberated from the invader’ as disturbing images in Bucha show bodies had been bound and hooded

At least 158 children have been killed and more than 254 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, the country’s office of the prosecutor general has said.

The office said two of the fatalities were among 13 people killed when Russian forces fired at civilian cars on a highway in Chernihiv around 18 March.

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DoorDash driver’s video shows officer firing stun gun in Tennessee traffic stop

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Local district attorney’s office calls for investigation following incident involving police officer Evan Driskill and Delane Gordon


A Tennessee police officer who used his stun gun on a DoorDash driver wrote an arrest report saying the man had become argumentative while denying he was speeding, refused to hand over identifying information, demanded to see a supervisor and stayed in his car when ordered to get out.

The driver – who faces charges of speeding, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct based on the officer’s sworn affidavit – pressed record on his phone after he was pulled over. That recording, made public by the driver’s attorney, tells a different story.

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Hula teacher and composer Edith Kanaka’ole to be featured on US quarters

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Native Hawaiian musician to be depicted in 2023 as part of program honoring eminent American women

The late Native Hawaiian hula teacher Edith Kanaka’ole is among five women who will be individually featured on US quarters in 2023 as part of a program that depicts notable women on the coins.

The US Mint described Kanaka’ole, who died in 1978, as a composer, chanter, dancer, teacher and entertainer.

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How the Islamic State trial could change the future of US terrorism cases

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As a Virginia jury hears horrific allegations, experts say the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh sets an important precedent

As the trial against the accused Islamic State fighter El Shafee Elsheikh began this week on American soil, jurors in a northern Virginia courtroom were quickly exposed to accounts of unimaginable brutality.

Elsheikh, prosecutors alleged, carried out terrorist acts that involved the grisly deaths of four Americans – the journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as the aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

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Union chief vows to pressure Amazon after historic New York vote

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Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien says the e-commerce company has ‘total disrespect’ for its workers

The Teamsters’ new president has pledged his powerful union will step up the pressure on Amazon and mount its own efforts to unionize the company after workers in New York voted to form the company’s first US union.

In an interview with the Guardian Sean O’Brien said it was vital to organize Amazon, asserting that the e-commerce company has “total disrespect” for its workers and was putting downward pressure on standards for unionized warehouse workers and truck drivers across the US.

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Sarah Palin announces run for US Congress in Alaska

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The former governor says she will ‘combat the left’s socialist, big-government, America-last agenda’

Sarah Palin has announced her run for Alaska’s only seat in the US House of Representatives, marking her first run for public office in over a decade.

“America is at a tipping point,” Palin said in a statement released on her Twitter account announcing her candidacy. “As I’ve watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight.

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Will Smith resigns from Academy, saying he betrayed its trust

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Actor will accept ‘any further consequences’ the body’s board considers appropriate after Oscars slap

Will Smith has resigned from Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony, saying that he “betrayed the trust of the Academy” and will accept “any further consequences”.

In a statement released on Friday afternoon, the actor described his actions at the 94th Academy Awards as “shocking, painful, and inexcusable”.

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Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid for new trial denied, judge rules

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Maxwell repeatedly requested a new trial after a juror on her case failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection

Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid for a new trial has been denied, the judge in her Manhattan federal court sex-trafficking case said on Friday.

The daughter of the late British media baron Robert Maxwell repeatedly requested a new trial after a juror in the case failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection.

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Biden ends Trump-era asylum curbs amid border-region Democrat backlash

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Administration signals end of Title 42 immigration restrictions – ostensibly to fight Covid – but some fear electoral consequences

Joe Biden will next month end a controversial pandemic-related expulsion policy that effectively closed America’s asylum system at its border with Mexico, it was announced on Friday.

The decision to lift the Title 42 public health order, which will take effect on 23 May, is seen as long overdue by immigration advocates who regard the order as inhumane. But it was seized on by Republicans and some electorally vulnerable Democrats, who warned of chaos at the border.

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US ends Trump-era policy of blocking asylum seekers on Covid grounds – live

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention terminates Title 42 from 23 May, ending policy widely criticized as pretext to keep migrants out

• Senate deal on drastically pared-down Covid aid package may be imminent

US adds 431,000 jobs as hiring spree cuts unemployment rate to 3.6%

• Disney staff stage walkouts over ‘don’t say gay’ bill

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The late supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is to be honoured by having a US navy ship named after her.

The yet-to-be-built fuel tanker will join a fleet of John Lewis-class “replenishment oilers” named for historical figures in human and civil rights. The navy took delivery of the first of the fleet, a tribute to the former Democratic congressman, last summer.

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Biden press secretary Jen Psaki to become TV host at MSNBC, reports say

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Psaki will reportedly stay on until end of April before joining liberal cable news network

Jen Psaki is reportedly preparing to quit as Joe Biden’s White House press secretary, to become a TV host with MSNBC.

Axios first reported the move on Friday, citing anonymous sources “close to the matter”. Other outlets said they had confirmed the news, and reported that Psaki was expected to stay through the end of April.

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Mafia hitman escapes from federal custody in Florida

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Dominic Taddeo, 64, pleaded guilty in 1992 to killing three men in 1980s mob wars for Rochester, New York, crime family

A New York mobster who killed three people and attempted to kill two others has escaped from federal custody after recently being moved to a halfway house, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Dominic Taddeo, a hitman from a Rochester-area crime family, pleaded guilty in 1992 to racketeering charges that included the killings of three men during mob wars in the 1980s.

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New Florida bill ‘basically erases’ state’s only pro-solar energy policy

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Republican-led Senate passes bill that could hamper growth of solar energy by removing popular financial incentive

In one of America’s sunniest states, a Republican-led Senate recently passed a bill that could hamper the growth of solar energy by removing a popular financial incentive among consumers.

Environmentalists are decrying the measure, arguing that the expansion of rooftop solar is a necessary step in the fight against the climate crisis. The bill was passed in Florida, as another extremely sunny state, California, considered a similar update to its solar policies.

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Trump may face day in court thanks to lawsuit from reggae singer Eddy Grant

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The musician sued the former president and his administration over the use of his song Electric Avenue in an ad in 2020

Reggae singer Eddy Grant may succeed where the attorney general of New York state and other powerful figures have struggled – by forcing Donald Trump to answer questions under oath in a legal proceeding.

Grant sued the former president and his campaign over the use of the song Electric Avenue in an ad in 2020.

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Betty Reid Soskin, America’s oldest active ranger, retires at the age of 100

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She began working with the National Park Service at 84 to reveal ‘untold stories’ of Black people’s efforts during the second world war

Betty Reid Soskin, the National Park Service’s oldest active ranger, has retired at the age of 100.

Soskin, who worked at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front national historical park in Richmond, California, spent her last day as she had for the last decade and a half: sharing her experiences and those of other women who worked on the home front in the second world war.

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Ariana Grande giving $1.5m to support trans youth amid ‘disgraceful’ legislative attacks

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The pop star vowed on International Transgender Day of Visibility to match donations to groups that advocate for trans rights

On International Transgender Day of Visibility, Ariana Grande is using her star power to rally her millions of fans to support trans youth.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, the pop star announced the Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund, which she founded with the fundraising platform Pledge.

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